10-yr RI for rapist father

Guwahati, Feb. 8 : Gauhati High Court has upheld the conviction of a man for raping his 14-year-old daughter and attempting to rape his other minor daughter as well.

Holding the accused, Krishna Chetia, guilty of the crime, a single-judge bench of Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari upheld a 2009 Dhemaji sessions judge order sentencing the 50-year-old accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years.

Delivering the judgment yesterday, the high court held that a father being charged of raping his daughter is not only a heinous crime but also betrayal of trust since it is a father’s duty to protect his children in all possible manners and under all adverse circumstances.

According to the high court, the accused had betrayed the trust of his daughters.

Chetia had sexually abused his two minor daughters and raped the elder one in July 2008.

The trial court had convicted him for attempting to rape his younger daughter, who was only 10 years old, when the crime was committed.

“A father is special to every child. He is always a person who provides that much-needed emotional and physical security to a child. He saves his children from all the ugliness of the world,” Dhemaji sessions judge J. Begum Anowar said in her order passed on July 9, 2009.

“He (father) is the protector of a girl child. But this is a case of a father who allegedly abused his two young daughters one after another to satisfy his sexual lust,” the order added.

The Dhemaji sessions judge also imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on the accused. He will have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for further six months if he fails to pay the fine.

The accused then moved the high court in 2009 challenging the verdict.

During yesterday’s hearing, public prosecutor Z. Kamar submitted before the high court that nothing can be more horrendous than this crime as the accused has crossed the line of human dignity.

Police had registered the case against the accused at Silapathar police station in Dhemaji district based on an FIR lodged against him by his wife.

He allegedly assaulted his wife when she protested his heinous act. She was forced to leave the house and lodge a complaint with the police.

The statements of the two victims recorded before a magistrate stated that both were sexually abused by their father several times.